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Tapping into the rich vein of lonely people playing video games and their desire to establish world records, Rift -- which recently just added a free-to-play option -- held a day-long event on Valentine's Day seeking to marry as many in-game characters as possible. It was a success, and now Rift has the Guinness World Record for most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period.

21,879 marriages took place on February 14, starting at 9am PST. Marriage was introduced in Rift's seventh major update, Carnival of the Ascended. Each participating player earned a unique in-game title, "The Avowed," and quite possibly a nagging significant other.

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I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU WORLD RECORD HOLDERS

21,879 marriages took place in Rift™ on Valentine's Day, setting the Guinness World Record® title for most in-game marriages in 24 hours

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. – Feb. 16, 2012 – Trion Worlds, the leading publisher and developer of premium games for the connected era, announced today that players of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Rift™, set the world record for the most in-game marriages in a 24-hour period. Officially recorded for the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition®, 21,879 marriages were confirmed between 9am PST, Feb. 14 and 9am PST, Feb. 15.

Guinness World Records will log the marriages and the record will be considered for inclusion in the 2013 edition of the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. All participating players will receive the unique in-game title "The Avowed," and hopefully snapped some wedding images to share with their children.

"Establishing this record was a monumental achievement for our development team and community of passionate players, and I couldn't be more proud," said Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer on Rift and Trion's CCO. "Ascended Weddings were a great way to lift the veil on Rift's new 'Gatherings' feature, social experiences that bring players together in new and interesting ways. We look forward to expanding this great new gameplay element in the always-evolving world of Telara."

Gaz Deaves, Gaming Editor for Guinness World Records, said "It's great to see the seeds of love blooming in virtual worlds, and particularly impressive to see so many gamers getting together to say their vows for one event like this. The evidence submitted was of a very high standard and we even witnessed some of the ceremonies ourselves, so this achievement will definitely be considered for the next Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition."

Rift introduced the in-game marriage feature with its latest content release, "Carnival of the Ascended," the seventh major update introduced by Trion since Rift launched in March 2011. Rift has seen more than one million activations since launch, and Trion has revealed that the title broke 100 million dollars in revenue in under a year. Also launched with the Carnival of the Ascended update was Rift Lite, which enables anyone with a Trion account to access Rift with no time or cost restrictions up to level 20. Play for free at www.riftgame.com/RiftLite.